Farm-subsidy Republicans targeted

House Democrats are targeting Republicans who receive farm subsidies but opposed a stripped-down farm bill with no food stamp assistance.

Fourteen GOP lawmakers have received a total of $7.2 million in farm subsidies, according to the available data since 2004, but all voted for an amendment that would have decreased the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program according to a report Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) is releasing Monday.

Story Continued Below

“It’s outrageous that some members of Congress feel it is OK to vote for their own taxpayer subsidies but against critical nutrition assistance for 47 million Americans,” Miller said. “It’s bad enough that the House of Representatives didn’t pass a farm bill that included authorization for sorely needed nutrition programs, but to see members of Congress approving their own benefits at the expense of the working poor is a new low, even for this Congress.”

The farm bill originally included funding for SNAP, but when it failed to get enough votes in the House in June, Republicans stripped food stamp funding from the bill to gain enough GOP support for passage. In July, on a partisan vote, the farm bill passed without food stamp funding.

Only one of the 14 members listed in the report, Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.), voted against the bill when it included SNAP benefits but for it once SNAP was removed.

Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) has received a total of $3.5 million in farm subsidies, according to numbers tracked by the lobbying firm Environmental Working Group. The company points out that according to his congressional filings, his net worth is between $204,995 and $1.1 million. And 22 percent of the residents of Fincher’s home county receive food stamps.

“As I’ve long said, the farm bill is in need of major reform,” Fincher said in a statement. “At first chance, I voted to remove direct payments. Both the House and the Senate passed bills that end direct payments, and as we move forward, I hope we can work out the rest of the issues to implement the necessary reforms.”

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) received $1.7 million in farm subsidies and resides in a county in which 11 percent of the population receives SNAP benefits.

“The congressman has long advocated for modernizing federal farm programs. He voted for eliminating the subsidies that are in question. What’s more, I would add that voting on the stripped-down farm bill in no way affected the SNAP program, and those criticizing it as such are misinformed,” said Kevin Eastman, spokesman for LaMalfa.